Now that the Oculus Touch controllers have had some time to pick up steam among Rift users, Google is releasing a new version of an old favorite for the Rift platform. Starting on Tuesday, Google’s Tilt Brush is available on the Oculus Rift, with full support for the Touch controllers.
Don’t worry, it’s more than just a straight port of a popular title. The new version of Tilt Brush for the Oculus Rift features some design changes intended to take advantage of the Touch controllers and their particular strengths.
The Rift version of Tilt Brush includes a virtual representation of a user’s thumb, to preview which button on the Touch controller they are about to press. Additionally, Tilt Brush is fully compatible with the Rift’s built-in headphones, providing a uniquely immersive experience, according to Google.
“Different brushes create different sound effects, and they become a vivid part of the experience through your headphones. We love using audio reactive mode with Rift headphones and seeing strokes come to life with light and sound,” says Elisabeth Morant, product manager for Tilt Brush.
Tilt Brush was one of the breakout stars on the HTC Vive platform, offering a unique take on a typical painting app. Instead of painting on a flat surface, you paint in three dimensions, all around you in virtual reality. It’s unusual in that it’s not exactly a game or a traditional VR experience. The focus here is on creativity and bringing Tilt Brush to the Oculus Rift will bring a whole new wave of users to the popular VR painting app.
For Google, it is another step toward building a large, inclusive community of VR artists who create works of art using Tilt Brush. It’s a relationship Google has fostered with its artist-in-residence program, by partnering with digital artists to explore the capabilities and potential apps like Tilt Brush present.
The app is available on the Oculus Store for $30, as long as you have the Touch controllers.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.